The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-11-17
EUROPEAN DRINKS.
A BlCYCLIST WRITES CONCERNING
CONTINENTAL CONCOCTlONS.

The Ale of England, the Wines and
Absinthe of France, the Beer of Ger
many and the Coffee of Turkey-Eng-
liSh Mixed Drinks.
Whilst beer and ale might perhaps truth
fully be called the national beverage of Eng
land even these days, it is far less so than it
was some years ago. Englishmen are taking
very kindly of late to mixed drinks, and
drink almost as much whisky in proportion
to malt beverages as we do. The mixed
drinks of England differ very materially,
however, from those of this country. Shandy-
gaif, a mixture of ale and ginger, is a favorite
drink among English athletes and frequenters
of race courses and summer resorts Another
odd mixture is known as dognose Dognose
consists of two-thirds ale and one-third gin.
The consumption of dognose is confined
chiefly to the lower classes. It's drunk mostly
by old topers, whose stomachs have swilled
beer and porter and alf-andi alf until these
! comparatively mild beverages no longer suf-
flee to satisfy their craving. The addition of
the fiery and penetrative Old Tom makes
combination that goes home every time in
spite of their well seasoned condition.
The custom of drinking ale at meal times
|
impression among many American lady visi-
tors. But there is as much to be said in favor
of it as against it. Mrs. John Bull recipro-
Gates with even more horror at our pitchers
of ice water on the table. Mrs. John Bull
would seem to have on her side the best of all
arguments too, robuster constitution and
fewer fleshly ills than her ice water drinking
sister.
ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.
What says Monsieur lie Frenchman across
the English channel! Beer? Take it away;
the barbarous stuff, fit only for the gross
palates of Germans and Albions. Whisky9
A little better; still altogether too gross and
solid for the merculial Frenchman. His
favorite tipplo is absnthe. This spirituelle
beverage floats around in Pierre Macelotte's
nervous system, tingles the nerves and causes
him to feel patriotic and sans souci. 1t causes
him to shout out in his imagination give Ia
France!" and "On to Berlin" This is what
honest Pierre likes, and since absinthe brings
it about, he drinks q good deal of it. Another
beverage Is tea and rum. "Ihe ct rum" is
favorite beverage with the French ladies, who
drop into cafes and sip it during the after
noon promenade or when out shopping. The
French table d'hote is familiar enough to
many of us here, with its inevitable boutelle
de vim ordnaire. This vim ordinaire, or COM
mon claret, may rightfully be considered the
national beverage of La Belle France, for
everybody drinks it. In the common country
hotels it flows almost as free as water.
Passing into Germany, it seems hardly
worth while to remind the reader of German
lager. Everybody knows what is the ma
tional beverage of the Fatherland. The good
people of some German cities well nigh live
on beer The women drink almost as freely
of it as their husbands and brothers. The
shopgirl or miliner's assistant in Munich will
trip into the neighboring beer hall at noon,
and take for luncheon quart mug Of beer and
piece Of bread and radish In the evening
she wanders with her sweetheart into an al
fresco beer garden and passes hour after hour
listening to the band and drinking beer For
dinner she has probably consumed the second
or third quart Of beer since morning and a
Frankfurter sausage sandwich. The natural
result of 50 much beer drinking i'll proportion
to solid food taken is to give the people of
Munich kind Of fabby appearance. and to
make them drowsy. The whole city seems to
be in semi-comatose condition. The cab
men fall asleep so often on their boxes that
the municipal authorities have found it neces-
sary to impose fines upon hackdrivers found
asleep at their post. Notwithstanding the
universal consumption of beer, however, the
Germans of the wealtLier class drink good
deal of schnapps.
HUNGARY-BULGARIA-T
Beer holds its own all through Austria to
beyond Vienna, but wine and liquors usurp
tnethrone again in Hungary. All down the
valley of the Danube below Budapest the red
loan bluffs fairly ooze the rich wine of Hun
gary Every town and village has its ada
cent vineyards, and every village gosthaus or
city hotel has an al fresco vine garden. Here
the good people congregate of an evening and
pass the hours away drinking wine, gossip
ing and listening to the weird music of a
Hungarian Gypsy band, As in France, the
Hungarian peasant makes merry on red wine
that only the well to do of most countries can
afford to drink ad libitum.
Beer, wine and schnapps are common
enough all down through Slavonia and the
lower Danubian provinces but a change
takes place when one gets fairly into the Bal
Ian'peninsula. One now gets among the un-
speakable Orientals whose ways are not as
our ways. Sherbet, mastic and coffee are the
beverages of Bulgaria, Roumeia and Turkey.
Inc 1Orlner may DO merely grass Oh wafer
in which lump of sugar has been dissolved,
or may be q concoction of fruit, sugar
and rose water, or Of various mixtures be-
tween these two extremes. The drink called
mastic is said to be a preparation of imported
Boston rum and gum mastic. 1t is vile
liquor, and about as deadly as the "bug juice"
of the Rocky mountain Saloons but makes an
agreeable tasting beverage when mixed with
several times its bulk of water
Hallway Coffee, however, is the national
beverage of Turkey. 1t is served in tiny
cups, holding no moro than a couple of table
spoonfuls each. The coffee is ground into fine
flour and used with such liberality that the
beverage i quite thick. 1t is served scalding
hot, and is inlbbed by touching the lips eau
tiously to the edge of the cup and slipping it
out with the WEAKNESS Of person who has
known all too often what it is TO burn the
mouth. Thomas Stevens in New York Mail
and Express
European Study of Food.
Very few people on this side Of the Allan
tic have any idea Of how much is being done
In Europe in the study of the food and nutri-